A Novel Partnership
by December21st
Summary: Fifty prompts, each inspiring one sentence about the relationship of Rick Castle and Kate Beckett.
1. Theme Set Gamma

"A Novel Partnership"

By December21st

Fandom: Castle

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Castle/Beckett

Warnings: Spoilers for seasons 1 and 2. Mild references to sex. Mild language.

Summary: Fifty prompts, each inspiring one sentence about the relationship of Rick Castle and Kate Beckett. Written for LiveJournal's 1sentence theme set **gamma**. Not even remotely chronological.

1. **Ring:** Castle can tell that Beckett's pissed off at him just from the way his cell phone is ringing.

2. **Hero:** After Beckett saves Castle's life for the second time in a week, Alexis comes down with a serious case of hero worship.

3. **Memory:** Beckett's convinced that when she tells Castle not to do something, he remembers everything except the word "not".

4. **Box:** When Castle breaks Kate's heart, Lanie watches her friend lock her emotions away in a steel box and dreads how long it will take to get her to open it again.

5. **Run:** It could only happen in a small town; in New York City they wouldn't be running from the law and hiding in a barn, huddled together for warmth.

6: **Hurricane:** Castle calls Beckett from the middle of a Miami hurricane; he's as excited about it as a kid at Christmas.

7. **Wings:** Never mind Red Bull, Rick's kisses are what gives Kate wings.

8. **Cold:** Beckett's hands are ice cold so Castle rubs them between his own to warm them up.

9. **Red:** Castle catches Beckett's collapsing form as the red patch on her blouse grows alarmingly.

10. **Drink:** When Castle and Beckett get so stupid drunk that anything could happen, they're both surprised when nothing does.

11. **Midnight:** Kate and Rick bring in the New Year with a kiss that makes them both lose track of time.

12. **Temptation:** Castle watches a trickle of sweat roll down her throat into Beckett's blouse and some part of him wishes he could follow it.

13. **View:** Beckett respects Castle's point of view on a case except when it involves ninja assassins or brainwashed toddlers; then, not so much.

14. **Music:** Kate enjoys listening to Alexis practice the violin; she's a talented player.

15. **Silk:** Rick's hands are so unsteady while unbuttoning her silk blouse that Kate has to finish the task for him.

16. **Cover:** Beckett gives Castle the Look of Doom when one of Castle's fans wants to know if it's Beckett on the cover of the Nikki Heat books.

17. **Promise:** Beckett makes Castle promise that he won't mention their passionate night together to anyone.

18. **Dream:** Alexis dreams that her father and Kate are happily together and hopes it comes true; better that than the one with the killer shopping carts.

19. **Candle:** Kate thinks that candlelight dinners with Rick are not so much romantic as a recipe for disaster.

20. **Talent:** Kate assures Martha that she's the best thing about the play and steps on Castle's foot before he can disagree.

21. **Silence:** Castle suspects that Beckett's mad at him; she hasn't spoken to him in two days.

22. **Journey:** Ryan and Esposito come in to work exhausted after staying up half the night playing Journey songs in Rock Band with Castle.

23. **Fire:** The first time Rick sees Kate naked, her apartment is on fire (he peeked); the second time is much different.

24. **Strength:** Lying wounded in a hospital bed, Beckett has no strength, so Castle holds her hand and she draws it from him.

25. **Mask:** For those few minutes that Beckett thinks Castle is dead, her face contorts into a mask of grief as Ryan tries ineffectively to comfort her.

26. **Ice:** After Beckett pulls herself out of the freezing Hudson River, Castle wraps her in his coat and insists she drink the rest of his coffee.

27. **Fall:** It seems like every summer they don't talk for one reason or another; but then fall comes around and everything goes back to normal.

28. **Forgotten:** In the mist of the chaos of their latest case, it suddenly occurs to Kate that she's nearly a week late.

29. **Dance:** They're verbal sparring partners; their endless bickering a dance that neither one of them wants to end.

30. **Body:** Castle's pestering Lanie to tell him why Beckett's so upset; the bodies in the morgue don't bother him … much.

31. **Sacred:** When they're _together_, Rick worships Kate's body as a temple, committing acts both sacred and profane.

32. **Farewells:** Embarking on a book tour, Castle says his farewells to Alexis and his mother with practiced ease (of course he'll miss them), but leaving Kate is surprisingly difficult.

33. **World:** In Nikki Heat's world, she always catches the killer; Castle wishes he could make that a reality for Beckett as well.

34. **Formal:** Kate doesn't want a formal wedding; the little Atlantic City chapel will do just fine.

35. **Fever:** Beckett never takes care of herself when she's sick, so Montgomery orders Beckett to let Castle to take her home, put her to bed, and feed her some chicken soup.

36. **Laugh:** "You can laugh now, Beckett, but if Lanie tells us he was killed with silver bullets, then it explains why the killer waited until the next full moon."

37. **Lies:** Castle tells lies for a living; he enjoys being around Beckett because her job is to see the truth.

38. **Forever:** The idea of being together with someone forever scares Kate a little; but the thought of being without Rick scares her more.

39. **Overwhelmed:** When Captain Montgomery, Ryan and Esposito, Lanie, and even his mother all threaten Castle with a certain doom if he ever breaks Beckett's heart again, it's more than a little overwhelming.

40. **Whisper:** When Castle whispers in Beckett's ear, she laughs; when Beckett whispers in Castle's ear, he turns bright red.

41. **Wait:** "Wait, wait, don't tell me, let me guess … Meredith called and warned you to run while you still can, or at least told you not to sign a prenup."

42. **Talk:** Beckett is at Castle's door, telling him they need to talk and handing him the pregnancy test she just took.

43. **Search:** Ryan and Esposito search unrelentingly for the guy that shot Beckett while Castle never leaves her side.

44. **Hope:** "Darling, I hope you don't think that you can get Detective Beckett to give you a police escort just because you wrote a few books based on her."

45. **Eclipse:** Beckett knows that Alexis has always eclipsed any other priority in Castle's life; it's what makes him a good dad.

46. **Gravity:** Esposito tries to convince Castle that explaining Beckett's shattered coffee cup as a gravity test isn't going to work.

47. **Highway:** "Castle, if you don't slow down to something resembling the speed limit, I'm going to give you a ticket myself."

48. **Unknown:** Castle holds Beckett's purse as she chases after the mugger; he doesn't dare look inside even though he's dying of curiosity, worried that something inside might attack him.

49. **Lock:** The suspect apologizes and takes off, leaving Castle and Beckett handcuffed together to the wrought-iron bed.

50. **Breathe:** Kate always thought it sounded stupid, but she discovers that she really does need Rick's help to remember to breathe through the contractions.


	2. Theme Set Delta

"A Novel Partnership, Part 2"

By December21st

Fandom: Castle

Rating: PG

Pairing: Castle/Beckett

Warnings: Mild spoilers for everything up to "Till Death Do Us Part."

Summary: Fifty prompts, each inspiring one sentence about the relationship of Rick Castle and Kate Beckett. Written for LiveJournal's 1sentence community, theme set **delta**. Not even remotely chronological.

* * *

1. **Air:** Kate rules out skywriters, helicopter rides and hot air balloons before Rick even buys the ring; it's like she knows what he's planning before he does.

2. **Apples:** Kate keeps her embarrassment to herself when she realizes that fruit is no longer the first thing she thinks of when she hears the word 'apples.'

3. **Beginning:** Years after Kate finally admits, first to herself and then to Rick, how she really feels about him, when Alexis asks when she first knew she was in love, Kate smiles and says there were so many times, each one seemed like the first.

4. **Bugs:** Castle has a knack for figuring out what bugs Beckett the most and then bringing it up constantly.

5. **Coffee:** Montgomery remembers bringing his wife coffee before they were married; he sees Castle doing the same for Beckett and knows what it means.

6. **Dark:** Castle wakes alone in the damp cellar, wishing Beckett was with him; after a day in the dark, he's grateful she's not.

7. **Despair:** Ryan and Esposito help Beckett search for Castle, missing for three days, and keep her from giving in to despair.

8. Doors: Beckett explains to Alexis that it's okay to let a man hold a few doors for you, as long as he doesn't mind if you hold a few for him.

9. **Drink**: Lanie's plan is to get Beckett drunk enough to talk about what's bothering her; but when Kate won't touch a drop of alcohol, Lanie figures it out anyhow.

10. **Duty**: Kate patiently explains to Rick that, even though she can drink when off-duty, there's no way that she's going to get drunk enough to do what he's suggesting; she doesn't want to get arrested for public indecency.

11. **Earth**: "What on Earth were you thinking, Castle, rushing in to save me like I'm some damsel in distress in one of your books?"

12. **End**: Castle suddenly realizes that Beckett's giving him the same thoughtful look when he walks out of a room as he gives her as he appreciates her ass...ets.

13. **Fall**: After Beckett falls on the icy stairs, she hisses in pain when she tries to get up, so Castle scoops her up in his arms and carries her to the car.

14. **Fire**: As Castle slowly regains consciousness, he becomes aware that Beckett's holding his head in her lap and the fire keeping them warm is the burning remains of his car.

15. **Flexible**: Beckett gives Castle a salacious grin when he asks if she's flexible; he just meant her lunch preferences but now he's imagining something much more ... athletic.

16. **Flying**: Beckett's not even trying to duck, but Castle's snowball goes flying a good two feet over her head.

17. **Food**: When Rick defends strawberries dipped in chocolate as the ultimate romantic food, Kate contends that any food can be romantic in the right context, even celery.

18. **Foot**: It was just a foot massage; why does Kate feel like she and Rick have crossed a line?

19. **Grave**: Castle's perfectly willing to dig up more graves if he's rewarded by more hugs from Beckett.

20. **Green**: Beckett wants to arrest the clerk when he asks for a bribe, but the dimwit eagerly agrees to Castle's offer of two George Washingtons.

21. **Head**: Castle thinks Beckett could at least pretend to be disturbed by the basket full of realistic shrunken heads - how else is he supposed to comfort her?

22. **Hollow**: Castle gets a hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach when Beckett links arms with her handsome visitor; she waits as long as she can before introducing her cousin.

23. **Honor**: Beckett tells Castle she promised to love, honor and cherish, but not to laugh at his bad jokes.

24. **Hope**: Beckett hopes that Gates doesn't object too much when it comes out that Beckett and Castle are together; it turns out that Gates is delighted - she won the latest pool.

25. **Light**: Martha sees the way that Beckett's face lights up when Rick mentions she's not just beautiful but crazy smart too; how can Kate not know that's what he thinks of her?

26. **Lost**: Only Castle, Beckett insists, could get so completely lost without ever leaving Manhattan Island.

27. **Metal**: Rick hears the sound of metal on metal and smiles; he never imagined the sound of his front door being unlocked could make him so happy, but this time it means Kate's finally home.

28. **New**: Beckett suggests to Alexis that she not tell her father about all her new boyfriends in college; it might calm his frayed nerves if she only mentions the boys she goes out with more than once.

29. **Old**: Ryan's already a dad by the time Castle and Beckett get started on their first; it makes him feel, if not older, at least wiser.

30. **Peace**: Castle holds Beckett's hand as Kate tells her mother's grave that it's all over and she can finally rest in peace.

31. **Poison**: When Castle figures out the hard way that the victim's chocolates were poisoned, Beckett gives him Hell; she was terrified he was going to die.

32. **Pretty**: "Castle, I'm pretty sure that when Captain Montgomery ordered me to take a day off and get some rest, this isn't what he had in mind."

33. **Rain**: Castle tries his best not to notice how transparent Beckett's blouse has become after they're caught in a rainstorm.

34. **Regret**: Kate thinks that she should regret the night she spent with Rick but she doesn't; she just hopes that it can happen again ... soon!

35. **Roses**: Castle's willing to buy Beckett every rose in New York City if it means she'll accept his apology.

36. **Secret**: Esposito guesses Beckett's secret first; Beckett smiles whenever she unconsciously toys with the gold ring that's joined her mother's ring on her necklace.

37. **Snakes**: Beckett doesn't realize that Castle's afraid of snakes until the evening they watch _Raiders of the Lost Ark_ and he peeks at the scene from behind hands clasped firmly over his eyes.

38. **Snow**: Castle falls in love again as he watches Beckett standing in the falling snow, her eyes closed, her face upturned and shining.

39. **Solid**: Beckett thought she wanted someone unfailingly solid and dependable, but it turns out that being with someone who turns those qualities on and off at will is a lot more fun.

40. **Spring**: Castle wants to know what movie character he most reminds Beckett of; he was hoping for Bruce Wayne or James Bond but she responds "Tigger" without a moment's thought.

41. **Stable**: When Castle finds out the police horse he stole years ago is retiring, he makes sure it spends its golden years at a luxurious stable.

42. **Strange**: Nobody at the Precinct thinks it's at all strange when Castle and Beckett start showing up for work together.

43. **Summer**: As June approaches, both Castle and Beckett grow increasingly nervous, wondering how fate will conspire to drive them apart _this_ summer.

44. **Taboo**: When Lanie gives him the look to end all looks, Castle knows that Beckett's been sharing secrets that are completely taboo for him to discuss with Ryan and Esposito.

45. **Ugly**: After an ugly argument with Castle, Beckett tries to convince herself that it's just the rain running down her face.

46. **War**: Beckett objects when Castle dubs the winning team "Castle's Angels" in the annual Hamptons boys vs. girls squirt gun war.

47. **Water**: When Castle calls Beckett one evening with a hunch about their current case, it's not until he hears a sudden splash that he starts wondering if he interrupted her bath, and, if so, what she's wearing as she talks to him.

48. **Welcome**: Kate joins Martha and Alexis at the airport to welcome Rick home from his book tour; she didn't want to wait to see him again any longer than she had to.

49. **Winter**: Castle shows up at the precinct after the winter's worst snowstorm, gives Beckett her coffee, and then goes home to curl up in front of the fire.

50. **Wood**: When Kate accepts Rick's invitation to spend the weekend at a little wood cabin in the mountains, she never dreamed they'd be snowed in for nearly a month.


End file.
